Australia

In Australia, some communities cancelled fireworks celebrations due to the devastating wildfires, but Sydney’s popular display over its iconic harbourfront went ahead. The city was granted an exemption to a fireworks ban there and elsewhere to prevent new wildfires.

Some tourists trapped in Australia’s coastal towns posted images of blood-red, smoke-filled skies on social media. One beachfront photograph showed people, some wearing gas masks, lying shoulder-to-shoulder on the sand.

The fires have spread across four states, with fronts stretching hundreds of kilometres in some cases. They have killed at least 12 people since October, and left towns and rural areas without electricity and mobile coverage.

New Zealand

Major cities greeted the new year with traditional fireworks. In Auckland, about half a tonne of fireworks burst from the Sky Tower above the city centre.

New Zealanders saw off the old year without regret. In March, a gunman killed 51 people and wounded dozens at two mosques in the South Island city of Christchurch. In December, an eruption of volcanic White Island off the east coast of the North Island killed at least 19 tourists and tour guides.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s government also cancelled its popular New Year’s Eve fireworks in Victoria Harbour due to security concerns as protesters staged more rallies against what they see as an erosion of democracy in the Chinese-ruled city.

Authorities deployed 6,000 police officers, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam appealed for calm and reconciliation in her New Year’s Eve video message.

The protests began in June in response to a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, where courts are controlled by the Communist Party, and have evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement.

South Korea

Thousands filled cold downtown streets in Seoul ahead of a traditional bell-tolling ceremony near city hall to send off an exhausting 2019 highlighted by political scandals, decaying job markets and crumbling diplomacy with North Korea.

Dignitaries picked to ring the old Bosingak bell at midnight included recently signed Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu and Pengsoo, a giant penguin character with a gruff voice and blunt personality that emerged as one of the country’s biggest TV stars in 2019.

The annual tolling of the peace bell at Imjingak park near the border with North Korea was cancelled due to quarantine measures following an outbreak of African swine fever.

Kiribati

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati was one of the first countries to welcome the new decade. The 3,200 coral atolls are strewn more than three million square miles, straddling the equator.

As the new year begins, Kiribati finds itself on the front line of the battle against climate change, facing drought and rising sea levels.

In 2020, a project funded by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Green Climate Fund and Kiribati’s government brings hope of providing safe and climate-secure drinking water to the main island of Tarawa, which is home to most of the nation’s 110,000 people.

Samoa

New Year’s Eve was more sombre than usual. While fireworks erupted at midnight from Mount Vaea, overlooking the capital, Apia, the end of the year was a time of sadness and remembrance.

A measles epidemic in late 2019 claimed 81 lives, mostly children under five.

More than 5,600 measles cases were recorded in the nation of just under 200,000. With the epidemic now contained, the Samoa Observer newspaper named as its Person of the Year health workers who fought the outbreak.

«We have experienced extreme sadness and sorrow,» the newspaper said. «Since the first measles death, the pain has only deepened. But amidst much hopelessness and tears, we have also seen the best of mankind in this country’s response.»